the gapanese invasion is nigh!

Sunday, November 18, 2007

when the registration for graduate students opened in the state u, i was perhaps one of the first to appear in the graduate school office, only to be turned this way or that owing to the papers i had to submit before being permitted to transfer to the english studies program. i was happy to have found both my comparative literature and new program advisers such that my papers were signed in no sooner time. it did not matter that classes then were suspended because of the raging typhoon, making me admire more these professors who get a pittance of a salary yet help build the nation via teaching.it excited me that besides having the department chair as my professor, i will attend a subject entitled new english literatures which, i researched, will tackle the state of literature in former british colonies. i may not be able to study the reliable latin americans but i will be able to make readings from postcolonial regions that spawned such works as the rice mother, hullabaloo in the guava orchard, in the skin of a lion, the bone people, waiting for the barbarians and the like. the die-hard postcolonial in me is at it again but at least, i won't be accused of lounging around proclaiming, "i am not an asian!"it took me the last day of the registration to finish everything, from enlisting online to paying for my tuition (i was not included in the tuition fee increase! jump!jump!), and while i did not pay more than P3,000 for my enrollment, my funds have depreciated alarmingly. queuing up was a different story altogether, since the UP has been satirically referred to as university of pila. living up to the mockery, the queue in palma hall and, i later learned, in pnb reached up to the geography department and shopping center, respectively. the serpentine line reminded me of a box-office film starring judy ann santos, and so in the event i lose consciousness because of the heat and the rigor of the effort, i might end up shrieking, "ang ganda-ganda ni juday, promise! panonoorin ko ito ng isang libong beses!" the inaugural attempt for UP to go crs online full-blast apparently defeated its purpose, for i observed that there had been more time wasted than conserved. after a gruelling day at the UP, i rushed to makati to have my books signed by jessica hagedorn. i will have to put this off because in its specialty, it deserves a separate blog altogether.